Brian’s TRT Blog

Besides having lunch on The Great Wall of China, another fascinating “pinch-myself-because-this-isn’t-happening” moment was when my wife, daughter, and I got to visit the Forbidden City. A new website of a virtual 3D tour of The Forbidden City is now on line and seems like a great resource for anyone who teaches about Chinese history, or for just a great way to take a virtual trip yourself. The website announces “The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time is a partnership between the Palace Museum and IBM. The goal of the project is to provide the means for a world-wide audience to celebrate and explore aspects of Chinese culture and history.” Why not travel there today? Go [news release from Yahoo]

Ask my daughters when I’m writing, and they’ll tell you it’s when a heavy Bach organ fugue is playing from the home office (AKA my 21 year old daughter’s former bedroom who now is in college). Can music help us focus on academic tasks? Scientists seem to think so (link to article). What do you feel like when you multitask? Is it reasonable and possible?
Just this week teachers and I were discussing in the work room that if one wants to survive as a teacher (reference was being made about student teachers), multitasking is a survival/coping mechanism. You know the routine. Take, for example, in the morning as students are coming in to your classroom:
• Take attendance
• Answer notes from parents
• You’re called over the intercom from the office to answer a question
• “Tommy, get to work!”
• Collect field trip permission forms
• Scan the room to make sure everyone is on task
• And on and on and on.

This week on NPR’S Your Health reports that scientists say that switching rapidly between tasks actually, although it doesn’t seem like it, slows us down. The brain loses its connections and soon can forget what it was working on. Distraction, thus, can take over and we soon have to remind ourselves what we were working on in the first place.
The “executive system” of the brain (which, boo hoo, decreases in volume as we age) helps the brain decide which things and tasks we need to zero in on and assists in suppressing information that is not necessary at that moment. Oddly enough, that is the area where I’d get my worst headaches at the end of the day from teaching! (Click here for more information from NPR: Go)
For more reading, click on the links above.

Need some type of kinesthetic activity to reinforce a concept in your classroom? Did your Specials teacher not get a sub and you’re faced with 35 students who now can’t have P.E.? Raining outside and you need something to do to reinforce a lesson? Why not try a foldable activity? I saw this Wiki on folables and it seems to have some neat free ideas for you to try. Also, don’t forget Lisa’s Social Studies blog with lots of resources, PowerPoints, foldable activities, and the like!

Say the word “geek” and you probably have visions of nasal sounding, thick glasses, high water pants, and other sundry things that would cause women to go running the direction opposite of the approaching I.T./computer guy. Ask a person if they’d rather hang out with a geek or get a root canal, and one would envision them diving into the dentist’s chair, strapping themselves in and gladly volunteering to open their mouths for the impending pain. Given a personality test, geeks often fail. Ah, but thanks to NBC, and Zachary Levi, I.T. guys now have been elevated to status of cool dudes, snazzy dressers, and ones that actually can form thoughts outside the computer world. Have you seen it? It’s on Monday nights at 8:00 on Channel 10 (Norfolk) and is worthy of watching–it won’t insult your intelligence. When I first saw the commercial for the show (Wow! Did he copy my style of clothing or what!), I panicked, for Hollywood rarely has shows on for long that I like and find humorous. Hmmm…I wonder if I could ever meet the show’s star? Stop by my office sometime and let’s do lunch!

Amidst the smell of brewing coffee and muffins provided by Mrs. Allen, the Olive Branch users group met in Mrs. Allen’s palace (AKA as her mobile) tonight and got an overview of Promethean software and effective ways to use their Promethean boards. The energy level was high, the motivation is in the troposphere, and the excitement was like that of getting presents on Christmas morning–honestly! We were honored by Mrs. Laurent’s presence, as well as Mrs. Bright’s, along with Ms. Barham, Diddle, Moulton, Braun, and Barham. Our next meeting will be in November and all are welcome!

SHOUT OUT TIME!
Mrs. Patgorski: (see the post below)

Mrs. Ruben: Today in class we played a stock market game to review the SOL for The Virginia Company of London. So that the students can better understand what it means to be a stockholder in a company, and why shareholders desire a profit for their investment, Mrs. Ruben played the CEO and we had trading on “the floor” of our “stockmarket”. We tied this in to the present economic crisis on Wall St as well. The technology integration part? Mrs. Ruben practiced with her keyboard with the MCPS system (PowerPoint) and we finished up with effective test taking strategies on our PowerPoint. Great job, Mrs. R.!

Mrs. Barrett: Mrs. Barrett and I sat down to plan for a lesson next week in Science. To review for the weather SOL, students are responsible for making/scripting a weather forecast and will be filmed next week. After she and I work on rendering the video, we’ll have a TV “newscast” in her room.

Mrs. Montgomery/Mrs. Austin: Students today worked on regrouping in the computer lab by using Kidspiration 3. Instead of having to take time to distribute materials at desks, both teachers were able to use the virtual manipulatives on Kidspiration 3 and print off the papers for students to take home.

It’s great working with such a dynamic staff!
[previous Shout Out]

Hats off to Mrs. Patgorski! Wanting her students to have that “A ha! I GET it!’” moment, Mrs. P. met with me last week to plan for today’s lesson on regrouping. Instead of the usual run-of-the-mill manipulatives, students today went virtual with Kidspiration 3 and turned subtraction in to a fun learning activity, as well as an activity that brought math vocabulary words to life. The possibilities are endless (Food chains! Cause and Effect! Make your own templates!).

Check out their new Inspired Learning Community to see:

–>Lessons and Ideas: Special needs, ESL, thinking skills, all subjects, etc.
–>Inspiration blog
–>Forum: “Inspired Members are invited to participate in open discussion, exchange ideas and post articles on the Forum”
–>What’s new (see about complimentary webcasts!)

Who said technology integration can’t address students’ interests? Music teachers out there–this looks like a neat link for educators. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a link for education. For example, if one of the teachers is discussing civil rights, you can teach a lesson about music during that time period, or teach about runaway slaves through music. While most of this seems geared for middle to high school, you might find a lesson plan suited for your grade level, or, just plain explore the site and have fun!

One of the benefits of having a Google Analytics account is that I can track and see what my viewers are specifically looking for in technology integration plans, resources, or needs. One particular area that I’ve noticed a lot of requests for in searching are for colonial history activities. Sites that I have found useful for lesson plans, ideas, and colonial fairs:

STURBRIDGE VILLAGE, Massachusetts:
A recreated village set in the 1800’s, Sturbridge Village offers a variety of ideas:
==>Educational Activities (candle making, recipes, preserving food, etc.)
==> Kids’ Zone (Puzzles and Games, “Ask Jack,” Stange Expressions, “Eye-Q!” etc.)
==>Online Virtual Tour of the village

LINKS TO IDEAS/LESSON PLANS:
==>ProTeacher: Teachers share what they’ve done
==>Mr. Don.org: Multiple links to multiple lessons, units, pictures, etc.
==>TeacherVision.org: 17th Century pastimes/games
==>Suite101.com: Activities to Make American History Come Alive in the Classroom
==>Make a Tin Punch Lantern: ThriftyFun; Fun.families.com (warning: pop up ads!)
==>Mr. Jefferson’s Blog
==>Colonial Williamsburg’s E-Newsletter
==>Lisa Pennington’s History On Tap (foldables, interactive notebooks, PowerPoints, Activities and Games, ad infinitum).
ON LINE GAMES/INTERACTIVES FOR KIDS:
==>Colonial Williamsburg
==>Colonial Williamsburg’s interactive site (way too cool!)

If you have any other sites you’ve used, please share!

Reading David Warlick’s blog, 2 cents Worth, I came across a post about a collaboration/project site that holds promise. Taking straight from their website, “Think.com is now part of ThinkQuest — A learning platform where teachers and students create learning projects, participate in a website competition, and browse a library of student projects. Integrate learning projects into your classroom curriculum. Choose a topic, assign students, invite teachers, and collaborate with members around the world.” Imagine being able to take your students beyond the worksheet and work on a project (21st Century learning!) where they can internalize the academics, and enjoy it at the same time! Imagine working on a climate project where data from Portsmouth can be shared with other countries, or maybe sharing other cultural studies! There are lots of possibilities–take a look and see what ideas you come up with. Curious? Drop me a comment above!